Journal Article10.1017/S0018246X12000088
Sociability, politeness, and aristocratic self-formation in the life and career of the second earl of shelburne
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TL;DR: The second earl of Shelburne is well known for his association with reform initiatives in the second half of the eighteenth century; however, he also put conspicuous effort into strengthening his aristocratic credentials and status.
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Abstract: The second earl of Shelburne is well known for his association with reform initiatives in the second half of the eighteenth century. However, he also put conspicuous effort into strengthening his aristocratic credentials and status. One noteworthy feature of this was his politeness: he aimed at personal cultivation, a goal in itself and a foundation for leadership in society; he also had a reputation for politeness in everyday social situations. One context for Shelburne's conspicuous politeness was his personal need to overcome a number of impediments to asserting aristocratic status. However, another context was his effort to articulate a vocation for the modern aristocrat. For Shelburne, polite sociability was a way for the aristocrat to gather, organize, and deploy creative energies in society for the sake of improvement and reform. Though a particular example, Shelburne illustrates the energy that asserting aristocratic status could demand and the sort of modernity that could be claimed on behalf of aristocracy. Finally, Shelburne demonstrates the role of politeness in aristocratic formation: in particular, he shows how aristocratic engagement in contemporary society entailed a range of social relations which polite competence helped to manage.
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Fantasy of Conviviality: Banalities of Multicultural Settings and What We Do (Not) Notice When We Look at Them
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors look back at the last years of the conviviality debate and argue that shifting of the debate's attention away from collaboration of individuals towards sociality would be productive and allow us to address issues otherwise omitted, such as relations of family, friendship, care, intimacy, private sphere, power and identity and gender relations.
Rethinking female chastity and gentlewomen's honour in eighteenth-century england*
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